Iron Sky – The Game.

During the entire history of the universe, only one Finnish movie has been turned into a computer game. That was back in 1986, when Uuno Turhapuro Muuttaa Maalle was released on the Commodore 64. In the game the player took part in non-stop action of plowing the field and cutting the grass. Yet, compared to other licence games of the day it held it’s own.

Now with Iron Sky we decided very early on, that we don’t want to do “just” a movie, we want to create a whole world – with history, future and unlimited posibilities. We want the world of Iron Sky to live and breath on it’s own, not just for the movie. Maybe the movie will be only one of the stories told about nazis on the dark side of the moon.

I’d take most of you can guess where we’re going with this… The Energia gang has been raised playing video games and RPG’s. Last year we released the Star Wreck Role Playing Game written by Mike Pohjola. Next, we want to make a computer game about Iron Sky.

We realise we know very little about making computer games, but we know what we want to play. That’s why we’re looking for game makers who would be interested in the idea. As the first step Timo went to visit the local chapter of IGDA (International Game Developer’s Association) and talked to the game industry people about the film. While the Finnish movie industry is generally very reserved about everything and pessimistic about anything new, the game industry is almost the complete opposite. To begin with, the are Finnish games competing head to head in the global market. The biggest difference is, that people really seemed to like the idea about making a game about nazis on the dark side of the moon and thought that the Iron Sky game could definetly be done, it’s all a question of finding the right people.

What kind of game are we making then? Well, it hasn’t been decided yet. The world would find many kinds of games from real time strategy to moon buggy racing. However I have to say that the game type that interests us most are the good ol’ adventure games. Because while shooting nazis is always fun it takes a great story to make a game really memorable.

p.s. Personally, even though I’m very fond of games like Monkey Island and Sam & Max, the best game ever made is UFO: Enemy Unknown. No sequel or re-make has ever come close to the original, because nothing can beat the atmosphere of the the desperate fight for Earth. I couldn’t care less about the bottom of the ocean or some unknown planet. It’s all in the story, even if there isn’t that much of it.

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Sounds like a good idea. This could also be where Iron Sky could be different from too many mainstream games, it could actually be made for multiple platforms straight from the beginning, maybe even released as open source?

Anyway, don’t personally see any reason to make it “windows-only”. Using SDL and OpenGL it could be made so, that it can be compiled to work “almost everywhere”. Both are free and available for wide range of platforms. Personally I nowadays use them in all my personal projects, and they sure make lots of things easier.

First of all: Do NOT even think about creating something that is meant to be massively multiplayed over the internet. That franchise is too well competed and Iron Sky wouldn’t be able to have the shine it deserves there.

Also, first person shooters are too limited and dont give you a way to make a realistic and interesting storyline.

The idea about a UFO – Enemy Unknown type of game is actually the best I’ve heard of in a long time for ANY new game!

IDEA: What about having two campainings (I dont know the movie’s exact storyline yet, but these are just wild ideas):

1 for the Nazis: the game begins by building and customizing your moonbase, developing technology and managing resources and personnel, just like in the UFO-games, but with only one main base. (Maybe small outposts too?). Later on, with the technology and equipment gained on the moon, the player must attempt the return to Earth, at which point the game will truly begin. Build bases on Earth, wage war agains the existing military forces and gain control over the continents! At first, its an easy stroll over the lands as the Earthlings are too weak technichally and totally unprepared for the attack! Later on, they create technology to counter the Nazi’s and the game will become more difficult.

2nd for the earthlings: The AI controlled Nazis have just attacked the earth, and the player must fight to hold his ground agains them, defending bases in a desperate loosing fight, until a turning point: nazi technology is revealed to the eathlings, who quickly adapt it for their own use and start to truly push back. The earthling campaining could end in a great crusade agains the Nazi moonbase!

The game could run much like the old UFO games, have a level of turn-based combat, realtime combat and perhaps small player controlled action sequences to alter outcomes of certain events in a combat. Then there is the globe mode, where the player builds bases, hires/assimilates more men, developes technology and manages his bases and force movements.

Through cutscenes, Ufopedia-like “Nazipedia”, and scientist’s reports, the player could be brought to a wealth of information about the Iron Sky universe! (Just like the UFO-games) We could also give the player the ability to alter some technologies and combine nazi and earthling technologies to create more adaptable and effective warmachines and weapons, allowing the player to ultimately change his Iron Sky gaming experience!

I would be willing to submit scripts for generating accurate terrains from scientific resources. Also I might take a crack at 3ds renderings of the circa 1945 aircraft hannebrau, Horten Ho etc. Is the movie utilizing cgi? If they use maya or something similar the existing “stock” graphics could be rapidly prototyped in a development tool like 3dGameStudio

An RTS in this setting would be utter brilliance. An adventure game also sounds excellent, but it seems to me like the story lends itself best to the strategy genre. That said, I’d be thrilled with either.

Speaking of which, I think it’s awesome that you guys acknowledge the importance of a good story. Far too many games (and movies, for that matter) settle for sloppy nonsense in place of a narrative and it’s very encouraging to hear you don’t plan on following that trend.

I’ve been reading your other comments on the Iron Sky game and I wanted to add some more opinions/ideas.
I don’t like turn based games and First Person Shooters are the only games I play. However I don’t have anything against a little work and planning. In the old Battle Zone games ( One and Two ) by Activision you had to build up your Base before you would be strong enough to attack the Enemy’s’ base.
I really liked Halo where you had a whole series of missions to accomplish until you finally reached the end. Most are like that but I thought they did a really good job.
In Battle Zone you could Enter and Exit your ship at will to make changes inside the various buildings, etc.

I would like to see something like this:

The Nazis attack the Earth. You must fight several levels protecting the Earth at
several locations around the Planet.
You could have some Intelligence Missions where you go undercover to find out what the Nazis are doing or going to do.
Eventually you move to the Moon to annihilate the Nazis. You must build up a Base while fighting off enemy attacks. In the last or last few levels you must lead an all-out Assault on the Nazi Main Base.
I also prefer games that have a section separate from the Campaign game where you have no mission to accomplish you just fight a number of enemies usually in a variety of locations you choose. In the old Heavy Gear game you could choose the location, the number of your Team and enemy soldiers and even the weapons your Team Members carried and the weapons, etc. the Enemy Team Members carried as well.
As I said before Return To Castle Wolfenstein is one of my favorite games. The German language and the old WWII music really gave it a lot of color. Good
luck with this Project and more.

From what very little I have seen it looks like it would make a kick-ass game. May I suggest to you to look into Bethesda as they are currently making Fallout 3 and it looks as though Iron Sky in a similar setup would be perfect.

Why should we ALWAYS be playing AGAINST the nazis? the main theme is that the nazis are coming back to earth, so why shouldn’t the nazis be the main characters of the game? Total War-like stradegy game would be a very good choice, but it can’t look like a medieval 2 mod. first person shooter would be great too. with online multiplayer it would be awesome, expesially if there would be different classes and ranks. Those are really the best choices because if you want to make money with the game too, not just make it for making it, those are the ONLY possibilities for a millions selling game. people want shoot ‘em ups and stuff, and you gotta do what they want you to do if you want money. that’s all really.

I do play FPS’s. Some even come with stories more elaborate than “go shoot everything that moves, it’s evil…”. Still, please don’t make another CS clone or whatever. I’d rather not see this as an FPS. UFO was a game I greatly enjoyed too, but I think it could not be re-done for a good reason. The spacecrafts arrive, except this time with nazis…? And how would that be better than the ocean floor…? RPG’s have serious storytelling potential, but they also have a tendency to degenerate into stat raising / leveling contests. If you think you can avoid that, more power to you. Frankly, I would just love to see the game as an adventure, but as you all know the genre is (dis)regarded pretty much as ‘a story and nothing else around it’ which therefore ‘needs to be packed’ with additional 3D, graphics, action and whatnot, until it has nothing to do with the story itself. Sometimes I wonder if anyone remembers text adventures… Anyway: adventure would be great, and if you would manage to not clone some other successful game it would be even better. Asking for the moon on a stick? Yeah, I know… ;)

I think, Iron Sky as an RTS would be great!
You could choose both sides (Nazis and Earth-Rebels) and lead them to victory; something like “Command & Conquer” or “Starcraft” would be brilliant! I always remember “C&C: Red Alert 2″, there were also UFOs and other crazy units! And the game also had humor (above all those great cut-scenes between the missions)!!

A lot of people seem to like the RTS opinion. I like RTS games too, and the idea sounds good, but I have an other kind of idea.

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the title “Ironsky Game” was something the likes of Splinter cell or Hitman. It’s just nice sneaking around, and finding different ways of getting through difficult spots. I just want to do the same in a nazi moonbase!

I can imagine all the corridors, air ducts, dark rooms and so on. The game could be made to intimidate the player in places by combining Silent hill- like, dark environments, dim lights that cast unnaturally long shadows, and sudden loud noices that echo in the corridors for a while. I can feel the awesomeness by just thinking about the game!

Something “scary” with a little shooting, stealth and problem solving would definitely make me happy. Also, something containing all that would be totally unmesswithable!

The XCOM idea was good. I haven’t played a turn based tactical game like it since. It is time for a revival of the genre, at least a good revival of it. A moon nazi invasion twist on such a game would be nice.

I’m looking right at a little timesucker of a game that’s free and runs on all platforms. Tremulous. It’s running nice on an opensource Quake III engine, and it’s addiction is that it’s building strategy is as important as your run and gun. If you haven’t played this little Strategy FPS, it boils down to this.

Bases. You have to build and maintain a base for each team to supply and defend the troops (or troops and alien hive in this case).

Now – what game could combine strategy with Wolfenstein shooting and involve “bases”. Hmmmmmm. Reskin Tremulous and keep it light and fast (unlike that bloated RTCW sequal Enemy Territory) and you’ll have a good and addictive tie-in fast, cheap, and easy.

Download and try it. It’s the first shooter where running around like an idiot getting killed will get you low marks for “feeding” – and requests for building skills come in as fast as “MEDIC”. Oh ya. And it’s free and runs on any computer on any operating system as far back as 1999.

WWII Online has been running for 10 years now with a Eurocentric alternative WWII (France does not necessarily fall). They already have a physics system with air and ground interaction, a map as large as most of NW Europe, and experience in running two-sided long fights (think weeks and months for a single campaign)- including the option to play the Germans! Plus, they already have a Mercedes 1930s race car and mecha that isn’t in the game but is there for screw around purposes. Just your sort of folks I imagine.

I think the best genre would be a first person shooter or a third person shooter but I wouldn’t mind an RPG genre as these genres really build up great stories in games like in Fallout 1 & 2, Final Fantasy, Halo series, and many more. It would kind of put the player in the role of a Nazi commando sent to earth to ensure Nazi victory. As this is a movie about a Nazi comeback, I would suggest to leave a cliffhanger ending to ensure a building up of a franchise. So the game musn’t end on the moon base but it would be cool to have a zero-gravity shootout or even a laser duel (lightsabers anyone!!). It must sort of leave a gamer wanting to play another game. Leave the story on a cliffhanger definitely something like the earth forces are so battered down but not hopeless and the Nazis so strong and dominant but knows it would be a really long war. The mixture of gameplay and storyline must really be GOOD as games like Fallout are legendary because of that great mixture.

If a games is to be made it has to have realistic graphics a good and bad side of the Nazis not just a bad side because not all nazis were bad they did what they had too to defend there country this game needs a story like no other a story that makes you want to play it over and over again it needs to have not just one story but 3 story lines European union,Russia and the united states I myself like rts games(real time strategy) but if any of you have played rise and fall civilizations at war then you may like my idea how about bringing that game play back to life some company’s have done this with games and failed horribly but a game like this can not fail take my advice in to consideration.

creating a game for Xbox 360 and full of weapons and stages, and can fly space ships and tanks and have to have an online show the ball. when i get the movie in Brazil in Rio de Janeiro large field (neighborhood) in (westshopping) here? I really want to see some friends and we are eager to see

I do not even know the way I finished up right here, but I thought this publish was once good. I don’t understand who you’re but definitely you are going to a famous blogger if you happen to are not already. Cheers!